The present invention relates to the field of pillow and specifically to pillows that prevent stress in the head, neck, and shoulders of a person while sleeping. Conventional pillows can cause headaches or muscle tightness in the neck and shoulders by having the wrong height or being positioned wrong on the head and neck. Several prior art pillows have attempted to address this problem with conventional pillows by providing means to properly position the head. Unfortunately all of the prior art pillows have inherent disadvantages associated with them.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,068 to Walpin includes a front ridge for supporting a person's neck. This feature prevents stress when a person is sleeping on his/her back. However, this pillow fails to provide a means for a person to comfortably rest on his/her side. The larger dimension between a person's shoulder and neck while sleeping on his/her side can produce stress in a person's neck while using Walpin's pillow.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,243,828 to McCarty provides a pillow that can be used for sleeping on one's side or back. However, McCarty fails to provide any support for a person's neck. The long dimension of the pillow can also cause a sleeping person to position his/her head in the wrong position on the pillow.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,397 to Norries discloses a pillow that has a hollowed area for cradling one's head in either a side or back position. Since a person tends to roll his/her head around while sleeping, this pillow could cause a person to wake up when his/her head falls out of the pillow.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,261 to Morrow discloses a pillow that is primarily to be used while a person is lying on his/her back as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. All of the disadvantages of Walpin's pillow also apply to this pillow. Additionally, FIG. 4 of Morrow shows that the pillow does not provide a comfortable means for allowing the head to roll from side to side. The head must remain in vertical and centered position.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,032 to Brooks is an odd shaped pillow with many different contours. Firt, the pillow does not give a person good neck support while sleeping. Second, the pillow is so complicated that it is highly unlikely a sleeping person will position the pillow properly beneath his/her head. Finally, the pillow is costly to manufacture and would be impractical in use.
One additional disadvantage of the pillows shown by Brooks, McCarty and Norries is that their shapes are unconventional and would not fit standard pillow cases or standard beds.